It's pretty obvious how the executive branch feels about entities that are critical. They 'a branch of the GOP', and therefore, not only does the president not have to answer questions from the critical press, but also urges you to send a contribution and GET IN THEIR FACES.

Look at that Rush fella. The targetting of Rush as the leader of the GOP came right from the white house, and has culminated in ABC and CNN fabricating slurs to destroy his investment efforts.

What are the going to do to some blogger? Fabricate comments like Killgore Trout did, and throw them in prison for inciting hatred? Sounds so far fetched and ridiculous, but if Mccain and Palin had clairvoyance enough to accurately predict what this administration was going to be like, the left would have called it far fetched and ridiculous.

The way Rush has been able to use his voice to defend himself... only somewhat, shows the power of this WhiteHouse, which includes its media organs.

This is already chilling expression. Or as Norwegians say, easing tensions.

Well how will we know if it's a gray area or more toward the black or white? Isn't it the nature of "gray area" that it's not clearly defined, so anytime the enforcer chooses to do so, he can define the offense out of the gray and into the black?

There never has been an abuse so inconsequential that it doesn't merit the full majesty of the Federal Government descending upon an individual.

If that sounds like hyperbole, consider my surprise 30-odd years ago, when, as a starving musical instrument craftsman working out of an abandoned farm building, an OSHA inspector showed up, stepped out of his white Interagency Motor Pool vehicle, cocked his white hard at a jaunty angle, gripped his clipboard authoritatively, stepped into my shop, and proceeded to fine me $1200 for having a band saw guard "too high" (I was resawing wood, for chrissakes), and an extension cord draped across the floor.

I thought the then-new OSHA would focus on safety in large, interstate industries. Naw, that was too hard. Starving artists were much easier.

I said, "But I don't have any employees!" Inspector answered, "You have had. You employed ..... for 3 months this year." I had hired a friend who taught at the same school I did for the summer. I made the mistake of making him an official, tax-paying, full-time employee. I wanted to be a good citizen, yes, I did.

Since then, I have had many encounters with OSHA, but that first one, where Your Federal Government descended in, as I say, all its Majesty upon poverty-stricken me, attempting to ruin my paltry business, and nearly succeeding—well, that was the one that turned me from a conventional, dewey-eyed liberal into something else.

What that was, I can't exactly say. It didn't make me a Republican. After all, OSHA was Nixon's idea. But it did make me, as my great uncle used to say, an Againster.

Now that I'm sliding slowly toward retirement as a musical instrument maker, I'm enjoying blogging more and more.

By the end of the current Administration, what Federal agency do you think I'll need to apply to for a license?

And if my forms are not in order, will I be fated to have begun my active working life with a knock on the door, and to end it the same way?

The same sweep put two other woodworking operations out of business in the same little valley I was living at the time. One was a door and window business (yes, they were wood in those days), and the other was an extremely good restoration contractor, who specialized in keeping up the oddly large number of Victorian "cottages" in the area.

The contractor came down with Lyme disease at the same time he was trying to get right with OSHA, and lost everything.

And did I mention my income taxes were audited that same year? Funny how that works.

P.P.S.— The wood I was resawing was Sitka spruce—10-12 inch wide shaggy timbers to make harpsichord soundboards (I know, I know, it's real Norway Spruce or Englemann these days, IF you can get good, quartered boards), and a replacement soundboard for an 1848 Viennese grand piano I was restoring.

Not only does the Federal Government dislike small businessmen, it hates music, too.

So, has anyone sued yet to enjoin the enforcement of the FTC's rule? I haven't followed this closely; perhaps it hasn't been issued as a rule yet. But, if a suit is eventually brought, I don't think the "we're not planning ..." argument will do the FTC much good. Quite the opposite, I suspect.

I doubt anyone has standing until they're actually sanctioned somehow. So the administration can hold it up there like the sword of Damocles as long as they don't use it.

I understand the need for standing requirements, but it sure would be better for everyone if some issues could be resolved promptly. If somehow you could make the argument the threat posed by a rule like that is enough, in itself, to give you standing.

Yeah, and the promise that Patriot Act "sneak and peak" searches would only be used for terrorist investigations has been honored by the Feds.... NOT! And where was the press, who so hated the patriot act, when this info was revealed. Bozos.

Before the 2008 election, Obama told an audience, "We are one week away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."

That was arguably the most audacious statement in this campaign and many another. Fundamentally transform America. How many people stopped to consider what that meant? The fundamental principles of our government are the Constitution. Transform that and you don't even have the same country.

The FTC's idiocy is part of the narrative: It is transforming one of those fundamentals, the First Amendment.

We were warned by The One himself. And a majority still voted for him. We are getting what we voted for.

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That's precisely what they're planning to do. Otherwise, they don't need these regulations. If they get complaints (and they will), are they not going to investigate?

Believe me, Ann, the moment these regulations get the force of law, lefty bloggers will launch an unprecedented assault on the right-o-sphere to shut down speech. They cannot wait. They are salivating at this chance. And they will say anything now to get this power.

They are lying through their fucking teeth. This is nothing less than a frontal assault on our rights as Americans to say whatever we fucking want, for whatever reason we want.

The Constitution is pretty simple: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press."

That's it. That's all it says. That's what it means.

No. Fucking. Laws.

None.

Not some. None.

Not just a few.

None.

If you and other bloggers and (and especially lawyers) do not now stand up for freedom of speech; if you do not now stand up for freedom of the press, then I say fuck you. Society has no use for you if all you represent is government approved speech.

The employees of the federal government are out of fucking control. We have a choice; we either get them under control now, ... or we will lose our ability to get them under control later.

I know this blogger, let's call them A. S., who get's special treatment from a certain organization, let's call the U. S. A. O., and attacks that organization's enemies without ever mentioning his special treatment.

The kind of stuff we are talking about, on both sides, would be valued in the millions of dollars.

For once, try to think with an open mind and clear your deeply held opinions for a moment.

If you had kids and they asked you what careers to consider, what would you advise them?

The banks and auto industries are almost defunct & on life support as is Wall Street. Construction and real estate are dead for how long? What is next? Will health care and medicine be under the govt's heavy thumb??

What do you tell your kids? The industries I mentioned are not evil! Can we all be teachers or govt workers or lawyers?

We cannot defame. We cannot buy certain advertisements prior to a federal election. We cannot yell "fire!" in a crowded theater. We cannot say words that clearly incite others to violence. We cannot say "XYZ Company is merging next Thursday!" if we know that to be true. We cannot start screaming our slogans in front of a hospital. We cannot buy the letters "F", "U", C", and "K" for our personalized license plate. . . . .

The Constitution says that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech."

We cannot defame. We cannot buy certain advertisements prior to a federal election. We cannot yell "fire!" in a crowded theater. We cannot say words that clearly incite others to violence. We cannot say "XYZ Company is merging next Thursday!" if we know that to be true. We cannot start screaming our slogans in front of a hospital. We cannot buy the letters "F", "U", C", and "K" for our personalized license plate. . . . .

The Constitution says that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech."

Speaking of the likes of Jeremy, wasn't it Trilling who said of these folks that they consider the underprivileged to be equal in every way except being equal to them?

My wife had a child in one of her classes who rolled across the floor everyday when entering the class. What to do? What to do? Ignoring the child worked fine because he was simply looking for attention and affirmation.

The orgy of self-indulgent power projection we are currently witnessing will play itself out soon. Obama's "Power to the people" activities are fundamentally flawed. Eventually, when they have had enough, the adults will step in and give the miscreants a well-deserved time-out. The Woodstock loving generation will retire soon to the ultimate commune, the assisted living home and their acolytes will be left rolling across the floor where they belong.